Ilya Salkind was at Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con and had quite a bit to say about Superman. He, along with his father Alexander, produced the first three movies. The original Superman went so far over budget and over schedule that it missed its original summer 1978 release and was pushed back to Christmas. The movie managed to exceed everyone's imaginations and expectations and remains one of the most revered CBM's to date.
One of the initial difficulties was in casting the title role. The Salkinds wanted an unknown but the financial backers wanted a bankable star. One of those was
Sylvester Stallone, who Salkind says was
“a little bit difficult to imagine” in the role, as well as
James Caan, Burt Reynolds and Robert Redford. Bruce Jenner also did a screen test.
“After meeting a lot of actors, such as Jon Voight, we even met Neil Diamond — don’t ask me why — I knew in my heart of hearts it had to be an unknown,” said Salkind. Still,
Christopher Reeve almost did not get cast as Salkind says everyone simply thought him too skinny to play the Man of Steel.
After
Superman III, the Salkinds leased the rights to the character to another company that made
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. They had attempted to make a fifth installment but relations with Warner Brothers had been strained according to Ilya:
“We came up with a script where we had Superman die, and of course the character would be reborn in the film too, so it was to be called 'Superman Lives'.”
“The politics between Warners and DC and the Salkinds were very difficult because it wasn’t their idea and they were releasing the movie, so it was a very difficult situation. They were happy with the success, but after ‘ (Superman) IV,’ they would I say made it harder and harder for us to come back and make ‘(Superman) V.’”
As for the new movie that is starting to get off the ground, Salkind said it would be important to set it in the current day and start over.
“They should literally start from scratch, forgetting the previous story.” Salkind sees a true passion in the project with Christopher Nolan:
“When you have producers, directors or actors who are not really excited about a project, it shows. Something is missing on the film.”
Many thanks to Newsarama for the information. For the full article, click the link below.